calibrating after battery change

sdjackaerial · Feb 27, 2015

Just wondering who out there is re-calibrating after a battery change. I, for one am. Not worried about wasting battery power as some have stated...my bird flying crappy (or worse) is obviously worth 1% of battery time.
Is this **** silly, or some reasonable overkill? Just curious what you all think.
Thanks!

Kilrah · Feb 28, 2015

Calibrating what?

Wiski23 · Feb 28, 2015

I think he means setting gps ?

sdjackaerial · Feb 28, 2015

Kilrah said:
Calibrating what?

The compass calibration--the "Inspire Spin Dance" (sweeping the nation)

Kilrah · Feb 28, 2015

The manual says when changing locations.
Some like to do it before every flight - I don't and follow the manual.

crashburn · Feb 28, 2015

Kilrah said:
The manual says when changing locations.
Some like to do it before every flight - I don't and follow the manual.

I agree. But sometimes, after a few flights, I still get the dreaded compass error, switching to ATTI mode, which is why some are recalibrating before every flight. Maybe it's better to be safe than sorry?

Enjoy life and be nice

Kilrah · Feb 28, 2015

There are people who calibrate each time and have compass errors, I don't and I never had a single compass error in 5 hours of flight... So I doubt it's directly related.

crashburn · Feb 28, 2015

Kilrah said:
There are people who calibrate each time and have compass errors, I don't and I never had a single compass error in 5 hours of flight... So I doubt it's directly related.

I agree. But, I wish I knew what you're doing to avoid compass error issues because it's quite unsettling when it happens

Enjoy life and be nice

Kilrah · Feb 28, 2015

Well, nothing at all... I imagine it may depend on your location/surroundings, maybe vary between units too.

The Editor · Feb 28, 2015

I too have never had a compass error or dropped into atti unexpectantly. It seems to be a case of some Inspires do , some don't. Either way, it seems the next FW release will address this.
The day I unboxed my Inspire I calibrated the IMU and compass and have not done either since and had zero problems. However, I ALWAYS check the mod values before each flight.

turbodronepilot · Feb 28, 2015

Hey guys.. this is what dji la said in a e mail to me ..

The Editor · Feb 28, 2015

That's fine but......... if your compass mod value was at 1500 why the hell would you want to recalibrate an already calibrated compass?

QuadGrandad · Feb 28, 2015

Today, I experienced GPS jumping to ATTI mode, p-opti mode, back to full GPS, followed by the dreaded flashing red warning of compass error.. Held on to the quad trying find a place to bring it down, only for everything to calm down. I was flying in the backyard.. same place as yesterday, with a calibrated compass. Flying maybe 20-25 ft in air. Had no problems yesterday.

Landed, re calibrated compass, took off again, with 39% battery, only to have the critical battery warning go off, and the quad came down. Temp was 39-40 degrees. Came in the house, turned everything back on, and battery reset to 35%.
Feedback/ assistance is welcome. If I hadn't been just test flying in the backyard, I would now have a broken quad.

PetePerrim · Feb 28, 2015

QuadGrandad said:
Today, I experienced GPS jumping to ATTI mode, p-opti mode, back to full GPS, followed by the dreaded flashing red warning of compass error.. Held on to the quad trying find a place to bring it down, only for everything to calm down. I was flying in the backyard.. same place as yesterday, with a calibrated compass. Flying maybe 20-25 ft in air. Had no problems yesterday.

Landed, re calibrated compass, took off again, with 39% battery, only to have the critical battery warning go off, and the quad came down. Temp was 39-40 degrees. Came in the house, turned everything back on, and battery reset to 35%.
Feedback/ assistance is welcome. If I hadn't been just test flying in the backyard, I would now have a broken quad.

Mine does this with every flight. It takes off in GPS, drops into Atti and then starts warning me of a compass failure with the red flashing warning. I usually just hover it for a couple of minutes and it usually rights itself after a couple more cycles of the same. I make sure I keep my eyes on the bird and my fingers on the sticks while all this is going on to be safe. After a minute or two all seems to settle down and I can go and fly. I am very much looking forward to these issues being remedied though, its pretty nerve-wracking having a $4000 piece of kit misbehaving like that.

QuadGrandad · Feb 28, 2015

PetePerrim said:
Mine does this with every flight. It takes off in GPS, drops into Atti and then starts warning me of a compass failure with the red flashing warning. I usually just hover it for a couple of minutes and it usually rights itself after a couple more cycles of the same. I make sure I keep my eyes on the bird and my fingers on the sticks while all this is going on to be safe. After a minute or two all seems to settle down and I can go and fly. I am very much looking forward to these issues being remedied though, its pretty nerve-wracking having a $4000 piece of kit misbehaving like that.

Have you had the "critical battery" warning? My quad was LANDING! and I had little control over the speed with which it was coming down. Only by pushing the stick all the way up was I able to get a semi-soft landing. And then I found out I had 35% of battery left.
I feel like I survived a perfect storm of glitches... The wobbling is relatively benign, but that battery warning... Geez

Kilrah · Mar 1, 2015

The Editor said:
That's fine but......... if your compass mod value was at 1500 why the hell would you want to recalibrate an already calibrated compass?

AFAIK we never got any official confirmation that compass mod at 1500 is good.

Dr_Dooms · Aug 1, 2015

I calibrate my i1 before my first battery, NOT when I swap batteries, Unless I change my location by more than 100 feet or so. In 23 flights so far I have not had one issue with flying yet.

sanderx · Aug 1, 2015

In my pov, you don't need to calibrate your compass before every flight. If you did a good compass calibration at a site that you know gets a good calibration (no metal around etc.) and you mod values are good, you shouldn't have to calibrate again, even if you travel around within a reasonable distance (e.g in an area that has the same magnetic declination). Calibration you compass before every flight can potentially lead to a wrong calibration if you are e.g. at an area that has metal in the ground. Calibration at that place will tell the inspire what is normal at that point but when you take off the environment that the inspire thought was normal suddenly changes and your compass gets wrong info which increases the risk of your inspire showing unwanted flying characteristics.

I went flying last week and before I took off I checked my mods and the compass mod was somewhere in the 1200's. I moved 30 feet and they were around 1500. I initially was standing on a large concrete slab, most likely reinforced with steel bars influencing my mod values. If I had calibrated my compass there I probably would have gotten a nice mod reading afterwards but once in the air the compass would probably be confused...with potential trouble ahead. So calibrate your compass where you know it will get a good calibration and check your mods before take off. If they look off, move to a different area until they show in the correct range.